FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM
1. Need to know. Contributor Christopher Burgess offers, “All who have a security clearance enjoy the trust and confidence of the US Government. A clearance indicates you are eligible to access classified materials in the course of your duties. The fact you have a security clearance is not a secret in and of itself. Indeed there is no prohibition from telling your friends, family or all your social networks. That said, there is an expectation of good judgement. . . .”
2. World outside the beltway. Contributor Jennifer Cary reports, “For the record, the highest percentage of federal civilian employees is definitely in the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area with about 15 percent of the total federal civilian population working there. But there are also other areas that have high percentages of federal employees. For example, Texas and California each have about 7-8 percent of the total federal civilian population working in their states.”
THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT
1. Russian power projection. Defense News’ Aaron Mehta reports, “Russia is using its long-range bomber fleet to send a message to the US, and the general charged with protecting the homeland says those flights will continue, or even expand, in the coming months. Adm. Bill Gortney said the flights by long-range Russian bombers are ‘messaging’ for the US, a reminder that there is another nation capable of power projection.”
2. Mideast relationships. Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi reports, “The Iran nuclear deal is shaking up America’s traditional partnerships in the Middle East. The framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is not yet a signed document with agreed-upon implementation measures. But already, it is seen to be accelerating a trend among some of America’s closest allies in the region to hedge their bets on the United States and look elsewhere for security partnerships – including Russia.”
3. Ash in Asia. Reuters’ David Brunnstrom and Kiyoshi Takenaka report, “U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter kicked off his first Asian tour on Wednesday with a stern warning against the militarization of territorial rows in a region where China is at odds with several nations in the East and South China Seas. Carter’s visit to Japan coincides with growing U.S. concern over China’s land reclamation in the Spratly archipelago of the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing has rival claims with several countries including the Philippines and Vietnam.”
4. Combat women: SpecOps challenges. Christian Science Monitor’s Anna Mulrine reports, “What is changing is that women, who previously have been appended to Special Operations Forces in non-combat roles, will now be able to become full special operators themselves. The Pentagon officially opened combat positions to women in 2013, though the decision has not yet taken effect. The services have until January integrate those posts or to come back with a reason why women cannot serve in these jobs.”
CONTRACT WATCH
1. Blowing the whistles. Government Executive’s Charles S. Clark reports, “A review of 30 top State Department contractors found that they have ethics codes for employees that investigators worry “may have a chilling effect” on willingness to blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse . . . .” Read the report.
2. $157 million: photonic sensor masts for Navy subs. Military & Aerospace Electronics Editor John Keller reports, “U.S. Navy submarine experts needed improved sensor photonics masts for Virginia-class fast attack submarines to improve stealthiness and survivability. They found their solution from L3 KEO in Northampton, Mass. Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington on Friday announced an $111.8 million contract to L-3 KEO (formerly Kollmorgen Electro-Optical) to develop deployable prototypes of the Low Profile Photonics Mast (LPPM). With options the contract could be worth $157 million.”
TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY
1. Army cloud computing. Nextgov’s Frank Konkel reports, “The U.S. Army is taking its information technology to the cloud. At least, that’s the plan. This month, the Army released a formal cloud computing strategy that aligns with the Pentagon’s evolving policies and will position it to capitalize on disruptive commercial cloud computing technologies prevalent in the private sector.”
2. Hacking into the White House. Homeland Security News Wire reports, “Russian hackers who penetrated the computer systems of the U.S. State Department in recent months were able to use the access they gained to penetrate parts of the White House computer system. The White House has insisted that the breach affected only the White House’s unclassified computer system, but experts say that the breach was serious nonetheless. . . .”
3. Protecto-flexibility: MIT, fish, 3D printers, and body armor. Popular Science’s Kelsey D. Atherton reports, “Scale armor is almost as old as armor itself, with numerous examples found in ancient art from Rome to China. To improve on an ancient concept, the MIT team came up with a single metric for the armor’s value: protecto-flexibility (Ψ). This is ‘a new metric which captures the contrasting combination of protection and flexibility, taken as the ratio between the normalized indentation and normalized bending stiffness.’”
POTOMAC TWO-STEP
1. Calling on Moniz. “Hours after President Barack Obama strode to the Rose Garden to sell the Iran nuclear deal, one of Congress’ top foreign policy players picked up the phone to get more details. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) didn’t dial the White House or the State Department. He wanted to talk to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Corker had heard plenty of the political arguments from the administration and its supporters, who had warned that he could scuttle the Iran deal with legislation he’s pushing to give Congress a say over any nuclear agreement. But he needed technical information and details of what was in the deal.”
2. Liberty-lovin’ dream machine. “Sen. Rand Paul began his presidential campaign Tuesday offering a roundly anti-Washington message and embracing a transformative vision of the Republican Party and its cornerstone policies. Sharing the stage in Louisville with a sign bearing his newly minted campaign slogan, ‘defeat the Washington machine, unleash the American Dream,’ Paul stressed his experience as an ophthalmologist over his experience as a first-term senator. ‘The Washington machine that gobbles up our freedoms and invades every nook and cranny of our lives must be stopped,’ Paul announced at the Galt House Hotel.”
OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS
1. “An innovative program in Iraq is fighting ISIL with peace education.” Quartz contributor Thomas Hill argues, “If we don’t seriously invest in the kind of education that youth in Iraq, Syria and neighboring countries want and need, we won’t just lose battles. We’ll lose the war, too.”
2. “A Proper Response to the Massacre at Kenya’s Garissa University College.” Just Security contributor Jonathan Horowitz argues, “President Obama should use a visit to Kenya to emphasize that US support to Kenya’s counterterrorism strategy must be conditioned on real security reforms and an improved human rights track record that has accountability as its cornerstone.”
THE FUNNIES
1. Long drives.
2. Frame work.
